The Gauquelin distributions for professionals are examined and the chance of finding such close clustering of the phase angles for the 3rd and 4th harmonics is shown to be very small. An experiment of simulating “noise” addition to the data (to resemble the tampering noted by Dean) is described and it is shown that the phase angles are robust against noise. A speculation by Addey that the 3rd and 4th harmonics represent subsets of one population is examined, and it is shown that the ratios of the amplitudes of the 3rd and 4th harmonics for each of the professional groups varies widely (as would follow if Addy’s speculation is true).

J. F. Ruis compared birth frequencies between males and females of ordinary people (Gauquelin data) across planetary sectors and claimed that certain frequencies differed significantly. Since the dates of birth in his male and female sub samples had not been matched, the result might be due to an astronomical-demographical artefact. The present study tries to replicate Ruis’ result using the same data with male and female sub samples matched for date of birth (n+ 7,593) each. Each sub sample was divided using the median birth day as the dividing point, into two successive cohorts. For each cohort the male proportion of births, indicating the gender difference, was determined across 36 sectors of 5 planets. If gender differences exist they should be stable across successive cohorts, but gender differences in the first cohort did not reoccur in the subsequent cohort. This was revealed by correlations. The observed lack of stable differences cannot be attributed to the method since the same method successfully demonstrated stability in identifying Mars-prone professionals and ordinary people. The finding of Ruis is thus most probably due to an astronomical-demographical artefact.

A re-assessment of Jung’s astrological test of synchronicity provides no convincing reason to believe in either. Nevertheless, precisely because of this, Jung’s results still provide food for thought.

Although a family history of schizophrenia is the best-established risk factor for schizophrenia. environmental factors such as the place and season of birth may also be important. Using data from the Civil Registration System in Denmark, we established a population-based cohort of 1.75 million persons whose mothers were Danish women born between 1935 and 1978. We linked this cohort to the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and identified 2669 cases of schizophrenia among cohort members and additional cases among their parents. Results: the respective relative risks of schizophrenia for persons with a mother, father, or sibling who had schizophrenia were 9.31 {95 percent confidence interval, 7.24 to 11.96), 7.20 {95 percent confidence interval, 5.10 to 10.16), and 6.99 {95 percent confidence interval, 5.38 to 9.09), as compared with persons with no affected parents or siblings. The risk of schizophrenia was associated with the degree of urbanisation of the place of birth {relative risk for the capital vs. rural areas, 2.40; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.13 to 2.70). The risk was also significantly associated with the season of birth; it was highest for births in February and March and lowest for births in August and September. The population- attributable risk was 5.5 percent for a history of schizophrenia in a parent or sibling, 34.6 percent for urban place of birth, and 10.5 percent for the season of birth. Conclusions: Although a history of schizophrenia in a parent or sibling is associated with the highest relative risk of having the disease, the place and season of birth account for many more cases on a population basis. {N Engl J Med 1999;340:603-8.) {Copyright 1999, Massachusetts Medical Society.)

The moods and behaviour of prison wardens and inmates were observed over a three month period where subjects were required to keep a mood diary. Levels of mood ranging from very happy to sad were recorded daily and the times and changes of mood compared with phase changes in the lunar cycle. The study showed that there was more use of control and restraint during the first quarter and last quarter moon than there was during a full moon. However, it was concluded that the results were inconclusive because the study was conducted only for three months and a study conducted over a greater length of time was needed.

A recent article in Correlation is criticised for applying an inappropriate methodology in attempting to verify astrological accounts of human motivation. It is argued that astrology can offer only partial explanations of human motivation and behaviour, just as no single variable identified by social and psychological science can explain such behaviour with any more than partial success. Two case histories from a longitudinal study illustrate the complexity of making predictions, and explaining human behaviour. The potential role for astrology and astrological counseling in this process is discussed.

The number of cars stolen in the Avon and Somerset Constabula1)’ area from owners of each of the twelve birth signs exhibits an approximately sinusoidal variation of one year period and amplitude approximately 10% of the monthly mean. The distribution of owners’ births throughout the year, the potential victim sample, also varies approximately sinusoidally by the same period albeit of amplitude approximately only 5% of the monthly mean and transposed a month or so earlier. Allowing for the variation in numbers of potential victims leaves a residual cycle of owners, birth signs that corresponds closely to that of young thieves. This may suggest that thieves and owners share the same preferences, which differ according to zodiacal sign.

It is possible that one of the attributes of good astrology’ is in being able to deduce meaning from pattern. But before we expend time and energies in wrestling over astrological meaning, should we .first ask “what is pattern ? ” A corollary would be, if pattern apparently exists, is “how probable is it for this structure or geometry to arise? “To use the well-tried and tested yardstick of p = 0.05, pattern is assumed to be present in the geometric arrangement of data points if it occurs 5% of the time or less. Then begins the wedding of celestial geometry with astrological meaning. sometimes beautifully so. Coherent astrological symbolism crossed with statistical significance offers another kind of marriage and is redolent with beauty. Two tests are described which may help in the hunt for astrological meaning. The function of these tests is to quantify the amount of structure in a given data set. It may be possible to answer the time-honoured question “are there really faces in the fire?”

It can be suggested that one of the main problems facing the astrologer is the attitude of many scientists towards the subject. The claim can be made that the scientific world view is so different from that of the astrologer, that science simply cannot engage with the astrological model at all. Thus science’s dismissal of astrology ste11lS, essentially, from its inability to understand and, even worse, its inability to recognise that it has failed to understand, what the astrologer is talking about. Even attempts to ask the astrologer, in effect, to set up a situation which could be tested, is to ignore that, nevertheless, it will be tested according to the paradigm of science. After all, it is from science that the main concept of testing emerges. Other ways of thinking – and testing – are not considered. In this article the author presents an overview of common scientific attitudes, and then looks with a little more detail at some particular research examples. It begins with an organisation which claims to represent mainstream scientific attitudes, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims for the Paranormal (CSICOP). It is asserted that to designate a certain phenomenon paranormal’, prior to its investigation, is to proceed from the prejudiced position of normative assumptions.

The notion that the Age of Aquarius is either beginning or is imminent is frequently found in astrological literature. However, there is no agreement either on when it begins or how its inauguration is to be calculated. By the normally accepted definition the Age begins when the First Point of Aries in the tropical zodiac precesses either into the equal thirty degree division of the sidereal sign of Aquarius or into the unequal sidereal constellation of Aquarius. The moment this occurs will depend on exactly where the boundary of this sign or constellation is fixed. Opinion varies considerably .from school to school and astrologer to astrologer, as witnessed by the wide variations in Ayanamshas (the difference between O degrees Aries in the tropical and sidereal zodiacs) in use in India and elsewhere. In addition, western astrologers increasingly point to planetary movements in the tropical zodiac to define the beginning of the Age.